Politics and the NFL

The National Football League will open its season Monday night with the Philadelphia Eagles facing off against the Washington Redskins (go Steelers!). The Washington Examiner took this opportunity to point out “another chapter of the cities’ rivalry:”

Redskins owner Daniel Snyder has given nearly $100,000 to GOP campaigns and groups since 2009. His Eagles counterpart, Jeffrey Lurie, has contributed nearly $20,000 to Democratic causes in the same timeframe.

According to analysis of federal campaign finance data, the Examiner reports, “Snyder and Lurie are two of 27 NFL team owners who have been financially active in politics in the Obama era.”

The Examiner study concluded two key take-aways:

– Republican donors outnumber Democratic donors 3:2

– The GOP donors throw their money around much more

So NFL team owners are conservative. Is anyone surprised? Liberals are not known for being sporting, and sports, despite their many rules, represent all things that are repulsive to the left: hard work, fairness, and consistency which shows itself in blatant black and white.

Tim Tebow, Peyton Manning, John Elway, Troy Aikman, Lynn Swann, Jack Kemp. There are loads of athletes who are conservative. Football players come to mind because their sport is the best, but other important and wise competitors wear their politics on their sleeves, too: Christie Yamaguchi, Jeff Gordon, Jesse “the Body” Ventura, Arnold Schwarzenegger (why not?).

Athletes, like blue-collar workers, are naturally conservative. Both groups see the direct connection between hard work and success. Some people are naturally more gifted than others, but “Hard work pays off where talent fails,” and even the most talented athletes know that if they let themselves get lazy, out of shape, and out of practice, they’ll quickly be passed over by those who are willing to work hard.

Sports are not politically correct. In the real world (not in the trophies-for-all, everybody is a winner world of Clinton-loving soccer moms), one person ends up the clear victor and the other person is decidedly the loser, hurt feelings and all.

Fairness is never as flagrant as it is in sports; this, and partisan parental punishment, also explains why children are conservative by nature. On the playground, they see the world for how it logically should be, and feel violated when 2 plus 2 does not result in 4.

With sports, discipline and drudgery lead to reward, a concept rendered irrelevant in American society thanks to the welfare system. Athletes, though, know the value of working hard, playing hard, and getting paid well. They also realize to an extreme extent the injustice of having such a high percentage of self-gained reward given to people who didn’t earn it. The higher the paycheck, the bigger the tax hit. (Phil Mickelson, anyone?)

Liberals hate sports for a number of reasons. It’s a place where people enjoy themselves, observe the fruits of conservative labors in exciting, violent glory, and where racial stereotypes the left persists on insisting exist are glaringly nonexistent.